Cool Peppers and Sweet Strawberries
Hot-house sweet peppers in rainbow shades of purple, orange, red and yellow are coming in from Holland after an absence of about three months. (During the first part of the year, it’s too cold over there to grow them, even indoors.) Air-freighted to Los Angeles, the peppers sell for $5.99 to $6.99 a pound at Vons, Pavilions, Ralphs and Gelson’s. In addition to the bright peppers, the Dutch are sending a cool-looking, round white pepper. Keep this one in mind for the hot days of summer.
It’s an in-between season for fresh fruit--too soon for California tree fruits, and a little too late for quality grapefruit. However, the strawberry outlook is good. Growing areas from Oxnard to Baja are producing large, sweet berries that should make up for the small, sour fruit that was adversely affected by rain. Prices have dropped significantly too.
Until more fresh fruit is available, make use of such interesting canned products as SunFresh Chilled Mango Slices. These bright-yellow Mexican mango slices are packed in Montemorelos in the state of Nuevo Leon and distributed by UniMark Sales Inc. of Argyle, Tex. UniMark operates the packing plant in a joint venture with a Mexican citrus growers cooperative.
The two-pound jars contain the equivalent of eight to 10 mangoes--”not gigantic mangoes, but not little miniature ping-pong balls either,” says Hank Van Joslin, a partner in UniMark. The price is $3.99.
Pineapple chunks and grapefruit segments are other products in the SunFresh line, which is carried by Vons, Pavilions, Tianguis, Ralphs, Hughes and other supermarkets.
Rice fans have plenty of options at Trader Joe’s. The chain is selling a nutty, chewy strain labeled California Aromatic Rice at two pounds for $1.49. This flavorful hybrid was developed from three types of California-grown rice: long-grain brown, basmati and an aromatic rice. It comes from Firebaugh in the rice-growing region of the Sacramento River Valley.
Bargain hunters can buy three pounds of imported basmati at Trader Joe’s for only $2.19. The source isn’t India or Pakistan, where true basmati grows, but Thailand; however, the Thais are planting Indian seed. Growing conditions result in rice that is slightly shorter-grained than Indian basmati but still pleasingly aromatic. Trader Joe’s does have genuine Indian basmati, a brown rice that sells for $2.49 for a two-pound bag. The chain’s top seller is a trilogy composed of California-grown brown basmati, long-grain brown rice and wild rice; it is priced at $1.49 a pound. Incidentally, freshness is not always the preferred quality in rice. In India, older basmati is considered the best.
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